On April 28, 2025, Spain and Portugal encountered large-scale power outages, affecting more than 50 million people. As of 7 a.m. on the 29th, Spain has restored 99.95% of its electricity supply.

Regarding the reasons for the power outage, some say cyber attacks, some say "rare atmospheric phenomena", and some analysts questioned that excessive reliance on renewable energy is the "culprit". In the view of Leonardo Mius, a professor of electrical engineering at European University Colleges, renewable energy is unlikely to be the cause of the power outage.

According to CCTV News on April 29, Spain and Portugal encountered a large-scale power outage on the 28th, affecting more than 50 million people from the Iberian Peninsula. Key areas such as transportation, communications, and medical care were once paralyzed, and surrounding areas such as southern France were also temporarily affected. The Spanish Ministry of Interior declared a national emergency. The power outage is considered the largest power outage ever in Europe.

On April 28, in Barcelona, ​​Spain, people sat in front of a coffee shop that lacked lighting. Image source: Xinhua News Agency (photo by Juan Gosa)

Spain's State Grid Red Electrica said on the X platform that as of 7:00 a.m. local time, Spain has restored 99.95% of its electricity supply.

There is currently no official report on the cause of this massive power outage.

Some people have previously speculated that it was a cyber attack, but European Council President Costa said there was no sign of cyber attack in the outage. Some reports point out that this may be caused by a "rare atmospheric phenomenon," but Fox reports that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Space Weather Forecast Center believes that space weather is not a factor in the blackout.

In addition, some analysts questioned that reliance on renewable energy is the "culprit" of this major power outage.

Leonardo Mius, professor of electric power at the European University College, and Daniel Muir, a global senior European power analyst at S&P, do not agree with this. Leonardo Mius said the EU has implemented several sets of rules in recent years, such as the updated grid connection specification since 2016 to prevent renewable energy generators from disconnecting from the grid in a way that endangers the system.

The worst power outage in Europe!

More than 50 million people were affected

The major power outage began at noon on the 28th. Spain's national electricity demand meter showed that around 12:15 that day, electricity demand dropped sharply from 27,500 megawatts to nearly 15,000 megawatts.

Spain's electricity demand plummeted Image source: European Transmission System Operators Alliance website

The power outage caused flights in Spain and Portugal to be grounded, subway systems were paralyzed, mobile communications were interrupted, and ATMs were forced to shut down. In Spain, more than 100 trains were shut down on tracks due to power outages, and about 35,000 people were trapped. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said that as of 11 p.m. that day, passengers on 11 trains still needed to be evacuated.

Hospitals and other emergency services switched to generators to power, and gas stations were shut down. Most mobile phone networks cannot make calls. People are looking for battery-powered radios.

People get messages through radio Image source: X

Image source of the power outage grocery store: X

In addition, power outages have also affected sports events, commercial operations and other fields. The ongoing Madrid Open was interrupted for a time and many games were forced to be postponed.

The power outage is considered the largest power outage ever in Europe, and its severity surpassed the 2003 outage in parts of Italy and Switzerland, when 56 million people lost power for up to 12 hours.

Anna Andrade, an economist at Bloomberg Economics Research, said the power outage could have a direct impact on Spain's quarterly gross domestic product (GDP) of about 0.5%, but some of the losses may be compensated as energy supply recovers in the coming days and weeks.

The Spanish State Grid Corporation (Red Eléctrica) said on the X platform that as of 7 a.m. local time on Tuesday, the State Grid's power generation had reached 25,794 MW, and added that the power generation had recovered by 99.95%.

Spain and Portugal launched investigation

Regarding the cause of the accident, the Spanish and Portugal governments have launched an investigation, but there is currently no authoritative official conclusion.

Previously, some people speculated that it was a cyber attack. However, European Council President Costa said on social media X that he had spoken with leaders in Spain and Portugal, and there was no sign of cyber attacks in the outage.

There are also reports that this may be caused by a "rare atmospheric phenomenon."

According to foreign media reports, Portuguese energy company REN said, "The reason for this power outage is due to the extreme temperature changes in the inland areas of Spain, which caused abnormal oscillations in the ultra-high voltage lines, which induces power grid interruption.

AccuWeather meteorologist Dan DePodwin said "inducing atmospheric vibration" is rare, but it can occur due to rapid changes in temperature or wind speed. "The atmosphere causes vibrations in the wires, which lead to power outages," Debordwin explained.

But Fox reports that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Space Weather Forecast Center believes that the weather is not a factor in the power outage.

According to the Spanish meteorological agency AEMET, during the power outage, the temperature in Spain was between 60 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit (about 15.6 to 21 degrees Celsius). Generally, the average temperature in central and northern Spain is 64 degrees Fahrenheit in April and 70 degrees Fahrenheit in the south.

On April 28, a small supermarket opened with candles in Barcelona, ​​Spain. Image source: Xinhua News Agency (photo by Juan Gosa)

Is green electricity dependence the "culprit"?

In addition, some analysts pointed the finger at the Spanish grid operators' dependence on renewable energy.

In recent years, Spain's production of renewable energy and low-carbon electricity has increased significantly.

Twenty years ago, more than 80% of Spain's electricity came from fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas, as well as nuclear energy. Solar and wind power generate less than 5%. By 2023, renewable energy has provided 50.3% of electricity.

Before the accident, solar power provided Spain with about 53% of electricity, wind power provided 11% while natural gas provided only about 6% before the accident.

Traditional energy systems have special mechanisms that can continue to operate even if they encounter shocks such as surges and power outages. In contrast, solar and wind energy do not have this capability.

In fossil fuel energy systems, rotating turbines play an inertial support role and act as shock absorbers, which can maintain the stability of the power grid when energy supply or demand changes suddenly.

The power grid needs so-called inertia to balance the network and maintain a stable power supply frequency. Inertia is generated by generators with rotating components, such as turbines that use gas, coal or hydroelectric power, while wind and solar energy do not have such components.

Image source: UK National Grid

The UK's National Energy Systems operator (Neso) likens it to "a shock absorber in the car's suspension, which can mitigate the impact of sudden bumps on the road and keep the car moving forward steadily".

"In low-inertial environments, frequency changes faster. If a region has a severe grid failure, or is subject to a cyber attack, or any other situation, the grid operator's response time will be shortened," said independent energy analyst Katherine Porter. "If the situation is not controlled quickly, it can lead to chain failures."

"If solar energy accounts for a very high proportion, the stability of the grid will be reduced unless you take measures to mitigate that. So the stability of the grid will be worse than usual, which is predictable."

But in the view of Leonardo Mius, a professor of electric power in European universities, renewable energy is not the culprit of Monday's blackout, as the EU has implemented several sets of rules in recent years, such as the updated grid connection specifications starting in 2016 to prevent renewable generators from disconnecting from the grid in a way that endangers the system.

"The nature and scale of the outages make it unlikely that renewable energy generation is the cause of the outages, as the Spanish grid often suffers from very large renewable energy generation," added Daniel Muir, senior European power analyst at S&P Global.

"Before this disaster, there were sufficient conventional power generation resources in the system, including nuclear, hydropower, cogeneration and thermal power technology, and available to operators," he said.

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